VIA Rail ready to welcome more passengers this summer!

MONTREAL, May 26, 2016 /CNW Telbec/ - Starting on June 1st, the number of departures offered by VIA Rail Canada (VIA Rail) between Quebec City – Montréal – Ottawa will increase from 10 to 40 per week, with a new added feature: direct connections on weekends. These changes will enable VIA Rail to reduce average trip times in this market. The new, direct connections will make planning a round trip between Ottawa and Quebec City easier than ever before.

With summer just around the corner, VIA Rail will make several improvements to its Québec-Windsor corridor schedule so passengers can enjoy greater flexibility. Starting on June 1st, these changes will come in the form of new direct trips between Quebec City and Ottawa, and a marked increase in train capacity in areas where demand is especially high during the summer season. VIA Rail is expecting a 5.7% increase overall in the number of available seat miles for the next few months, compared to 2015.

"VIA Rail is proud to offer increased flexibility to travellers who plan to spend their vacation enjoying events around Ontario and Quebec this summer," said Yves Desjardins-Siciliano, President and Chief Executive Officer of VIA Rail. "These changes reflect our willingness to act on every opportunity to improve our service offerings and increase traffic in the Corridor."

TORONTO - OTTAWAThe successful additional frequencies introduced between Toronto and Ottawa last fall will remain in place. Customers will be offered a choice of six more departures per week compared to the Summer 2015 schedule. This translates to a 15.9% increase over last summer in the number of available seat miles.

TORONTO - MONTRÉAL The overall capacity for trips between Toronto and Montréal will increase by 4.7% and trains running on Sundays will be able to carry 13.7% more passengers.

Two new daily stops between Toronto and Oshawa have been added, bringing the number of departures in each direction to 12.

VIA Rail will make an additional westbound stop in Casselman from Monday to Friday which will allow travellers to arrive in Ottawa around 8:00 a.m. and make same-day return trips easier.

These improvements have resulted in schedule changes for several trains. Travellers who would like to know how these changes could affect their reservation should consult page viarail.ca/newschedule.

15$ FOR KIDS ALL SUMMERThis summer VIA Rail is offering a $15 kids fare for families wishing to discover the beauty of Canada. This offer applies to children aged 2-11 travelling in Economy class to any destination in Canada from June 20 to August 31. Infants 24 months and under travel free at all times. For more details viarail.ca/en/fares-and-packages/children

About VIA Rail CanadaAs Canada's national rail passenger service, VIA Rail (viarail.ca) and its 2,600 employees are mandated to provide safe, efficient and economical passenger transportation service, in both official languages of our country. VIA Rail operates intercity, regional and transcontinental trains linking over 400 communities across Canada, and safely transports nearly four million passengers annually. The Corporation was awarded seven Safety Awards by the Railway Association of Canada over the last eight years. For more information, visit: www.viarail.ca/en/about-via-rail.